Depending on the desires and finances of the family of a person who has passed away at a location far from the final burial place or body viewing location, a corpse often requires several handlings after death. This could occur, for example, if death occurs in one location, the body is placed in a temporary container, quickly shipped by air to a funeral parlor for embalming and viewing and is then either buried or cremated. Similar dual handling could occur if embalming takes place before shipment. If cremated, the body may be handled as many as three times after death, first when placed in a shipping container at a remote location, next when placed in the coffin for viewing and lastly when removed from the coffin and made ready for cremation in the event the coffin is not burnable. A variety of circumstances can exist where one or more body handlings are required before the body reaches its final resting place. While ordinarily the family is unaware of such handlings, such knowledge would be discomforting to learn, especially if fluid leakage or damage to body parts were to occur. If the body had been subjected to an autopsy, excessive handling could be detrimental to the handlers themselves, particularly if the body is diseased. In such instances, precautionary measures may have to be taken for protection of those handling the body. Where deterioration of the body has occurred, handling must be done very carefully.
While minimal body handling is desirable, another important objective of any corpse transporting and its eventual disposal is the avoidance of fluid leakage from or into the container, whether it be during shipping or after burial. Ground water protection from chemical contamination is a distant long range problem of concern to cemetaries and the municipalities in which they are located, even where caskets are placed within concrete vaults. Some of the chemicals used in embalming can have long-lasting affects and should be retained indefinitely against seepage from the casket. Steel caskets eventually corrode and wooden caskets deteriorate. Although plastic materials for various other articles are generally felt to be detrimental to the environment because of their long-lasting effects, that ability is a distinct advantage for human burial. There is even a trend toward very costly stainless steel burial caskets. Steps are also being taken in the funeral industry to line the bottom of deteriorable caskets with liquid-impervious plastic trays to protect water supplies.
When cremating a body, it is ordinarily removed from the casket prior to cremation, especially if it is made of metal, and placed in a burnable container. In some instances, body transfer can be avoided if the casket is made of burnable materials. However, any metallic hardware should be removed before cremation.